A Lovely Death
by XxAnimegirl300xX
Summary: Shadow has only one purpose in life: to take the souls of people and deliver them to their final resting place, and nothing more. So what happens when he meets the one person he can't kill? And worse; he falls in love with them!
1. Prologue

**A Lovely Death - Prologue**

by ~Animegirl300

It was a cold night that night. The rain was falling alarmingly fast, and a violent wind caused entire houses to creek and groan. The sky was a pitch black and to the inhabitants of the small village, it seemed to float closer to the ground as though a great blanket was pulled over their heads, only separated by the tops of the houses and trees.  
You would have to be a real fool to go out into this weather.

In the top story window of one of the small townhouses of the village a light flickered on, its glow casting an orange dot from behind thick curtains. The curtain was pulled back as an old man came to stare outside into the darkness. The old man shook his head and turned away from the window.  
"Tsk, tsk, tsk. I would hate to be stuck outside at a time like this."  
The wind blew violently against the walls of the man's home, and they creaked against the pressure as they tried to fight the oncoming force.  
He went to his bedside, setting a lone candle down on the bedside table. He sat on the bed listening to the raging weather outside. He could almost feel the living wind cutting and hammering away at his home.  
He shivered slightly before, with shaking knobby knees, pushed him self up, grabbing his candle, and shuffling to the door and down the creaky steps.  
He put a kettle on the black stove of his kitchen and sat down on a chair.  
Somehow he could not shake a feeling of… anxiety.  
He told himself it was just the storm. After all, what in the world could happen to an old man: he had a simple life, and not very many enemies? He was sure he would be okay.  
And it was just as he had calmed himself down that he heard it.  
Thud! Thud! thud!  
He jumped up at the noise, and his breath quickened as he stared down to his front door.  
Someone was there.  
Thud! Thud! Thud!  
There it was again…  
He was frozen: who in the world would be coming to call at almost three in the morning and in weather like this.  
Not anyone with sense at least.  
But he couldn't just leave someone outside like that… what if it was a poor soul looking for a place to stay.  
At the thought he shuffled to his door, dragging on a heavy cloak, and unbolted the lock.  
And he opened the door.  
Nothing…  
The wind crashed against him and he shoved the door closed again.  
Maybe it was his imagination.  
Or maybe he had just doomed himself.  
For he was unaware the something was now in the room with him…

'What a quaint little hut' the creature thought sarcastically. His blood red eyes scanned the room from where he was leaning, arms crossed, against the corner.  
The pictures on the walls and tables told him that this old man was a poor old widower. He had children, but judging by the state of his home he was a loner these days.  
"Just another worthless life" The creature muttered his fanged teeth shown from behind a tan muzzle. A flash of lightning revealed his features: he had dark black fur, with stripes of red going down his arms and legs, his face contorted in a deep frown, his needle nose pointing out of his emotionless face. He was a hedgehog. But he was more than just a hedgehog…  
With a sudden movement of a gloved hand came something from the old horror stories that parents would tell children for their fearful amusement: a large shining scythe: the weapon of Death!  
There was a flash of lighting and the candle went out as a great wind came attacking the old man where he stood at the entrance of the kitchen.  
"What the-…."  
Thinking he had left the door open, he turned around just in time to see a flash of silver… and then…  
Nothing…  
The hedgehog looked down at the old man's lifeless body for a moment, and then turned back as he headed for the door. His job was done for the night. He would now go back and wait… for his next job… for his next victim… another victim… of Death.


	2. Chapter 1

**A Lovely Death 1**

by ~Animegirl300

Out in the small village of Paradis, the sun rose slowly onto the horizon casting its brilliant light over the sleeping town. The roosters crowed and the people began their day.  
The farmers went out to the felids to work: tilling the ground, planting the seeds, keeping the weeds and crowns in check.  
The bakers went along to their baking: pounding the dough, designing their bread loafs, letting it rise, and putting them in the ovens.  
The blacksmiths went about their chores: heating the metal, hammering it down into shape, cooling them with water, and making it usable.  
The people began to fill the streets: Mothers doing the shopping, children playing together, fathers on their way to work, Maidens running errands.  
Yes, it seemed like everyone was up and about: ready to start their day…

"Amy Rose! Get out of bed this instant and get to your chores!"  
With a start the young female hedgehog popped her head off of her pillow, rubbing her eyes sleepily and yawning tiredly.  
"NOW Young missy! We have work to do!"  
"I'm awake!" She shouted down.  
She swung her legs to the floor and got up stretching to walk up to her mirrored wardrobe. Bright green eyes looked back at her, as she brushed her long pink hair, blowing her bangs out of her eyes futilely.  
"Grr! Why won't you stay up?"  
"Talking to yourself is the first sign of craziness big sissy."  
Came the soft calm voice of a young girl, She was a hedgehog with very long silver hair that went down her back, and silver eyes that seemed to penetrate down into your soul if you caught them in a stare.  
"Humph!"  
Amy spat her tongue out at her sister childishly. And Anju stared back at her smirking.  
"Just hurry up, Mom needs our help with the chores."  
"Last time I checked I was the older sister."  
"And last time I checked, you never act like it"  
"I do too! Getting up late doesn't say I'm not the older sister" Amy pouted.  
Her sister smiled up at her. Actually even if Amy was supposed to be the older sister, Anju could never see her acting like it: Amy was too bubbly and air headed and childish. And she never wanted her to change.  
"Girls! What the heck are you doing up there!"  
"Coming Mom!" Anju shouted. "Just hurry up Amy"  
And with a flick of silver hair she was running down the stairs to help their Mom with breakfast.  
Amy sighed as pouted at the mirror. All she ever had to look forward to was chores, chores, chores.  
She tied her hair up in a messy bun, and picked out a plain brown cotton dress that came up to her Shins, and tied it at the waist with a green sash before running after her younger sister.

In the kitchen her 'Mother' was working on breakfast with the help of her 'sister'  
"I'm here Mom"  
Her mom was a short plump lady with graying flyway hair, and silver eyes, just like her real daughter. They weren't spiting images of each other, but you could still tell that they were at least related,  
"It's about time! Please go out and feed the chickens and collect the eggs. And then you can feed the cow, milk her, and then you can go and bring the water out to the boys in the corn wheat field."  
Amy picked up bucket of chicken feed, and the basket for the eggs,  
"And don't keep them waiting too long! It's a hot day today!"  
"Yes mom"  
As she stepped outside her door Amy paused to look into the brilliant sunshine. The sky was so blue and all the vegetation was so green.  
She skipped down to the chicken coop throwing the chicken feed into the little trough and as the chickens scattered to the food she grabbed her basket and set off down the isles collecting the eggs. None of the mother hens even noticed her.

She brought the new eggs back to the house before going down to the cow pasture where the cow was already feeding.  
'Dad must have brought her out'  
She got her stool and sat it down besides the big animal, placing the bucket under her, and setting off to work.  
Her mom had been right about it being a hot day, after a few minutes she could feel sweat starting to break out on her face.  
She untied the piece of cloth from over her shoulders and draped it over the fence, just as a breeze started to pick up.  
And that's when she heard the sound of hoof beats.  
"Ahoy Amy! Fine weather we're having huh?"  
Amy turned as she hear the familiar voice of Sonic the hedgehog onto his trusty steed, and followed along by Tails, a little fox boy who was Sonics best friend besides Knuckles the echidna.  
"Hi Sonic, Hello Tails! What's up?"  
"Nothing much Amy," Tails replied beaming "Guess what I just caught"  
He turned in his saddle and picked up a string of freshly hunted pheasants.  
"Aww, you taught him how to hunt now? Good job Tails"  
Tails blushed and he smiled happily.  
"Heh heh, He tried to catch a deer at one point, but that didn't turn out so well"  
Sonic grinned at his buddy who now blushed embarrassedly.  
"T-that was an accident! Who knew it had an easily aggressive cousin who was willing to chase after a small little kid!"  
Amy and Sonic chuckled at his flustered expression before Amy said kindly:  
"It's okay Tails, you'll be able to catch a deer one day. But don't get hurt trying to do it okay?"  
"Yes Amy-san" Tails replied happily, before glancing at the sky. "Uh oh, Sonic, we're about to be late! We better getting going if we wanna help Uncle Chuck!"  
"Yea you're right buddy, Well, Cya later Ames"  
"See you later you two, Tell Uncle Chuck 'Hi' for me!"  
She waved as they galloped off into town, before grabbing the filled milk bucket, her shoulder cloth and ran back up to the house.  
"What took you so long child?"  
"Sorry, Bessie didn't want to cooperate at first!"  
Amy grabbed the water buckets off the rack and after pumping then with water, headed down to the fields.  
Almost all of them men were there, tending to their fields.  
She waved merrily as she passed familiar faces and nodded to the elders until she got down to the field where her 'father' and brother were working.  
She found her brother lying on his back a piece of straw in his teeth, and eyes shut.  
Feeling mischievous she tip toed up to him with a small cup of water…And just as he noticed the shadow upon him…  
Splash!  
"Ahh! Came his sputtered cry as the cold water woke him up from his day dreaming"  
"Hello Max."  
The silver haired hedgehog spat his tongue at her before grinning.  
"Hey'a Amy,"  
"Hi, where's Dad?"  
The little hedgehog pointed into a clump of corn stocks and taking the water bucket went around finding her Dad collecting Corn cobs.  
"Hey Dad, I got your water"  
He turned around and smiled at her.  
"Hey honey, Thank you much"  
The family sat down around the water bucket for a short break.  
"How's everything going Dad?"  
Her father shrugged and he scratched his head between his green fur.  
"Ah, the usual, the crows got a couple of our stocks, Max over here is suppose to be fixing the old scare crow."  
He gave Max an amused stare and the hedge-boy got suddenly interested in a pile of rocks.  
Amy ruffled his hair affectionately.  
"Has anything else happened?"  
"Yes sadly, you know old Bob from the next town over?"  
The kids nodded their heads: Old Bob was an old friend to their father.  
"Well, they found him this morning in his kitchen, Looks like he had a heart attack. The lady next door found out when she realized his kettle wouldn't shut it. Sigh… I guess it was simply his time to go, but…"  
"Aww, I hope his family will be okay."  
"Oh they'll be fine,"  
Their father said a bit bitterly  
"They really didn't care much for him actually. Next came to visit or anything. It used to break his old heart when Christmas came around and they refused to see him. But what can you do: you can't choose your family. He used to say we were closer to his family than his own children. He'll be missed."  
The kids nodded and they had a moment of silence in remembrance of him.  
Their Dad looked to the sky and nodded to himself.  
"Whelp, its time to get back to work, tell Mom we'll be home at noon okay Amy?"  
"Okay, see you later!"  
She jumped up and hurried to gather the water buckets. She walked down the road lost in thought. But if she had been paying attention, maybe she would have noticed she was being watched…


	3. Chapter 2

**A Lovely Death 2**

by ~Animegirl300

The back and red hedgehog hadn't even noticed he had been staring until he found his head turned in the direction the pink girl had taken. He frowned to himself. Something about her was familiar… but he couldn't put his finger on it. He shrugged it off, putting the female hedgehog to the back of him mind. He was here for a reason.  
He turned back towards the field, and his eyes focused on one of the men. He had orange fur, and his eyes were bloodshot and had huge bags under them. He would cough every once in a while. One time it was red. The man was dying of sickness.  
The hedgehog watched for a while and waited. The man would die in a few minutes.  
The hedgehog strolled over to the man, and the closer he got the more pain the man seemed to feel.  
A thought passed through the dark hedgehog's mind: 'If he had just listened to his wife and had stayed home when sick he wouldn't have to die now. He wouldn't be leaving his wife and children alone…'  
With a wave of sudden anger, he summoned weapon of Judgment, and in a flash the man had lost his life: His soul was gone into the world of darkness.  
The hedgehog watched as those around the dead man realized he was down, he watched the others shout and run over to the corpse. And he watched as one, the green furred hedgehog, calmed the others down and sent someone off with a message for the man's family.  
The black hedgehog sighed and turned towards the forest he had left, strolling along without notice.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Ahh, now this is relaxing~" Amy said contently as she sat onto of a large rock on the bank of a lightly shaded stream. She leaned back on her hands as she watched the sun beams break through the canopy and heard the wind rustle through the leaves.  
When she had gotten home there had been nothing else to do, so she had changed into a soft pink gown that was much better for hot days like today.  
She was really enjoying herself.  
Her paradise was nature, the flowers, the breeze, the birds, the crystal clear waters. And this place was her haven. She bent over the rock she was sitting on, to pick up a great blue flower. Its smell was wonderful to her.

She gazed into the depths of the stream. And a hazy memory came to her of this same spot.  
She had been a child back then, running around, having adventures, causing a ruckus everywhere she went. But she would never be considered bad: even then she was sweet tempered and good willed.  
She and her little friend Cream had been playing in the flowers, when Cream had shouted out something about her Dolly; and sure enough it had fallen into the stream, and was floating away.  
The 5 year old Amy couldn't have known about exactly how deep the water was, or that there was such a thing as swimming. She had ran along the banks to one of the massive rocks, just as the dolly had come up close enough to her.  
She had tried to catch the doll, but she had slipped off of the rock and into the water herself.  
She remembered what it was like to almost die: she couldn't tell which way was the surface, she couldn't even see anything but bubbles and water, and the suffocating feeling as she choked on the water, unable to breath would be burned in her mind forever. She knew she would die also when the waters caused her to crash into one of the great rocks.  
And even when she knew she was about to die, all she could think of was not being able to catch that little doll.  
Then she felt a pair of strong arms grab hold of her, she could feel fur on her cheek and whatever it was held her to itself, what she thought was black cloth swirled around her in the water: at least she knew it was a person. And for a moment she realized that she and whatever it was that was holding her were just standing there, under the water's surface. She saw fish swim past her, and now that she wasn't moving around anymore being underwater really didn't seem that scary. Then she felt that she was moving, or rather, what was carrying her was. Then they were out of the water: she could feel air filling her lungs.  
She shivered slightly, still cold from her little adventure, from where her cheek was she could see a white patch of fur on top of black fur. And almost painfully slowly she looked up, she felt her eyes droop and she tried to fight sleep, and as she looked up she saw its face: he was a hedgehog, black and red furred with scarlet eyes. She tried to form words with her numb lips, but then she felt herself fading… and the world went black…

When she had woken up she was back home under the covers of her bed, her whole family around her. Cream had told them of how she had fallen into the stream, and how she had fallen in and almost died.  
And she had told her family of how a strange black hedgehog had saved her from her fate, but nobody had ever seen such a person, so after a while she decided to keep the memory to herself.  
She had been stuck in her thoughts… but now… A feeling had started to penetrate into her consciousness. It was the feeling of being watched…

She turned around and was in for a shock... it was as if her thoughts had become reality… It was Him… he was standing right behind her. Apparently he had been watching her… She wondered why…  
They started back at one another, unsure of what to do. There was silence… And Amy decided she would have to break it.  
"Umm… Hello?"  
He had started as she spoke up, as though he hadn't even noticed her staring at him. He quirked a brow and looked around as if to see who she was talking to.  
"Um…No, I mean you."  
He gave her a frown that said something along the lines of 'Why is she talking to herself'  
Then an expression of dawning came on his face.  
"You…you can see me?"  
His voice was deep and baritone with a harshness that meant either he didn't talk very much to people, or the ones he talked to he didn't like very much.  
Amy tilted her head at the question, 'why WOULDN'T she be able to see him?'  
"Umm… yea… I can see you."  
Suddenly he gave her an angry look as thought she had offended him immensely. It was a glare so very unlike anything she had ever received from someone.  
"Then what manner of demon are you!"  
He snarled at her and crouched down as though expecting an attack.  
"…. What? Did you just call me a demon?"  
Amy looked herself over: everything looked okay… and she was pretty sure she hadn't sprouted horns or anything.  
She gave the hedgehog a confused look.  
"Don't act all innocent! Mortals can't see me! So that means you can't be a mortal!"  
He barred his teethe, and didn't relax his stance.  
Now Amy was confused… did he just say mortals can't se him?  
"Err… okay… Um… I'm really not sure what you're talking about, but um… Hi? I'm Amy"  
She gave him one of her sunshiny smiles, and put out her hand in the gesture of wanting a handshake. But she guessed he didn't know what he meant because when she put out her hand he jumped back and to the left as though she had thrown something at him.  
She blinked at him and he blinked back: apparently confused at the fact nothing happened.  
"Umm… okay… we'll just skip the handshake."  
They looked at each other for a minute, and then very hesitantly he began to walk towards her, giving her a look of concentration.  
He stopped a foot away from her and gave her a glare that was more like he was trying to see through her. She looked around, nothing there, and then met his gaze again.  
His red eyes sent shivers down her spine. And she he shifted on her rock he noticed the movement and his eyes stopped focusing so hard.  
"You don't have a magical aura... so you aren't a demon…"  
Amy crossed her arms and gave him a sort of angry pout.  
"Well I could have told you THAT!"  
Then she smiled brightly,  
"I'll have you know, I'm a perfect little angel."  
Then her expression changed to a pondering one.  
"At least that's what my Dad says. Anyway,"  
She went back to smiling again,  
"What's your name?"  
He blinked at her expectant smile. And then gave her a sneer.  
"I am Shadow"  
"Well then Shadow, It's nice to meet you. Well… again officially anyway"  
She gave him a smile, but he just gave her a blank confused look.  
'What the hell is she talking about?'  
He gave her a deep frown, Suspicious.  
"What do you mean by that?"  
His voice had a little steel in it now.  
Amy blinked at him and tilted her head again.  
"What do I mean by what?"  
He growled and gave her a look filled with venom. Now she was acting innocent again… 'I bet she's hiding something. Maybe this is a trap!'  
"What did you mean by "Again Officially"? You're hiding something!"  
A dawning look came on her face replaced by a more confused and insecure look.  
"So you don't remember? I was so sure it was the right person…"  
He growled again impatiently.  
"Do NOT ignore my question! What did you mean by your statement! Answer me!"  
She quirked a brow and put her hands on her hips angrily. The next thing Shadow knew their faces were inches apart and Amy was poking at his chest angrily.  
"Okay Mr. Grumpy, I don't know what the heck your problem is, but I do not deserve to be talked to like that, so quit yelling at me!"  
He stared at her blankly, completely taken aback.  
Was this little girl actually reprimanding him? Did she just shout at him? DID SHE JUST TOUCH HIM!  
"Look, LITTLE girl. You obviously do not know who the hell I am, so I will show-"  
He realized now the girl wasn't even paying attention, she was looking at something behind and to the left of him with a look of horror. He turned to what it was and almost sneered.  
It was a porker: A Boar. It was big as hell, he contemplated, and it had huge tusks about the size of the blade of his scythe, but nonetheless, it was just a huge stupid old pig. To him at least.

Amy was shaking in fear. It was huge. Being one of the female villagers, she only ever seen a boar when it was dead: ready to be cooked into a feast for the whole village, and even then, none of them had even come to half as big as this thing.

Shadow glanced at the girl, with her pale face and wide eyes. He supposed he would have to get rid of it, after all, if he didn't and this pig managed to cross the path of any unsuspecting people, he would just have more work to do.

Without another word he crouched down, placing himself between the monster pig and the pink female, and gave a low snarl.  
The effect was immediate; the boar gave a scream, it was hellish and evil sounding, and it dropped its head and pawed at the ground ready to charge…

With a quick movement of his hand Shadow summoned his favorite weapon, the razor sharp blade glistening in the sunlight: his Scythe, and one second he was in front of Amy, the next he was ten feet away, 8 feet from the ground ready to strike the massive animal.

He brought the blade of his weapon down in a silver arch, but as his did, the great pig shook his head to the side hitting his massive tusk into the black hedgehog, who was thrown 5 feet away, where he landed in a crouch holding his right arm where the tusk had caused a deep gash.  
Now he was pissed: injured by a worthless pig!

The boar was ready to strike again, but this time not at the black hedgehog: it lowered its head and broke into a charge: head straight for Amy!

It was over. Tears formed in her eyes as time slowed down and the boar got closer, closer… She didn't have time to move, she didn't have time to scream. All she knew was that she was about to die…  
But then,  
With a sickening thud and a flash of black and red, the Wild Boar was thrown off its feet flying in a massive ball of fur and meat and bone, and it landed 12 feet away, dead.  
She hadn't known how it happened, but then she realized Shadow was right in front of her his Scythe was gone and his arm dropped down to grip his arm again:  
He had killed a full grown, charging, massive wild boar, with one single punch to the side.  
Damn.

Shadow sneered in triumph. The boar was dead. It may have injured him, but it was only a minor nuisance. Either way it was dead. But before he could ponder over it anymore, he was struck suddenly by a flash of pink. In slow motion he took a surprised step back, as Amy ran into him, her arms finding their way around him, her face on his chest, shivering with tears in her eyes. His mind had gone blank again in shock. He looked down at her crying face and frowned.  
"T-thank you Shadow, Y-you, you saved me! Again!"  
He frowned at that word: 'Again?'  
His mind came back to him: Closing his eyes, he placing his hands on her shoulders pulled out of her hug.  
"Do not mention it."  
He had meant it quite literally.


	4. Chapter 3

**A Lovely Death 3**

by ~Animegirl300

~~~

"Siiiigh, well, now I'm bored!"  
Amy had been sitting on her usual rock next to the stream, trying to find a way to entertain herself. Over the last week since Shadow's appearance and disappearance, life had gone back to normal for the girl. She would wake up, eat, do chores, and maybe hang out with friends if she was lucky.  
She sighed as she thought about it...  
She barely ever saw her friend, including Sonic the way she used to...

They had been friends for a very long time: Sonic was only 2 years older than her, and as the village didn't have very many children they had hooked up the day they met each other. They had been a couple of little trouble makers, thick as thieves, and mischievous beyond normal nature for children.  
They would do all kinds of things: chase the chickens around the yards, putting buckets on doorways, filling shoes with critters, annoying Knuckles, the red headed echidna who was 5 years older than Amy and had lived alone for as long as she could remember.

Yup. At first it had just been the three of them: Knuckles, Sonic and Amy, then one day Tails and his family had shown up, and they had attached to him immediately, after that it had always been 12 year old Sonic, 10 year old Amy, 15 year old Knuckles, and 8 year old Tails.

'But,' she thought with a sigh,

The good times would have had to end at some point.  
It had started happening when Knuckles became 16: he WAS on his own, and he needed a job: so one summer he started working at 'Old Jenkins' shop, and became so busy he really didn't have time for his friends anymore.

Then when Sonic turned 14 he had started to get more distant for her: he had responsibilities too: learning the hunting trade: the trade of his fore-fathers. He had tried not to let her slip through the cracks, but, his work became more demanding, and even though his Uncle Chuck was kind enough to let her tag along on their training outings, eventually she decided it would be better if she didn't.  
For a while she had even started to hang out with Tails a Cream, but it came to pass when even they had started to think more of his future, and he went off with Sonic and Uncle Chuck to learn the ways of hunting, and Cream had become a regular assistant to the bakery her Mom owned.

She rolled over, laying her head on her arms and staring into the water depths of the stream.  
Now a days, she was alone most of the time.  
And she still hadn't decided what she wanted to do with her future.  
She could work at the bakery with 12 year old Cream, She thought to herself. She had always loved cooking, and decorating pastries was a hobby of hers.  
And it was as she was pondering her future she heard a voice behind her.

"Hmph, I take it this is your favorite place to be then?"  
She twirled around to see Shadow there, just standing arms crossed as he had been on the day they met.  
"Hi Shadow!" She was beaming at him. "Long time no see!"  
He quirked a brow  
"Hmph, A week is a long time to you?"  
"Yes it is! So much could happen in a week!"  
"Oh? And what things would you expect to happen in only a week Amy Rose?"  
She leaned back on her hands and frowned at her bangs in thought.  
"Oh I don't know, but you had never said weather or not you would be coming back. I'm glad you did though!"  
She smiled at him, and he frowned for a moment and sighed.  
"That is something that you should never be glad about Rose."  
She frowned at this. "What do you mean?"

But he placed his finger to his lips and as she turned to the direction of new voices, he disappeared leaving Amy staring at the place he had just been.  
"Where did he-?"  
"Hi Amy!"  
She turned back to the voices and saw her old friends, Sonic Tails and Knuckles heading towards her, and she decided to put all thoughts of Shadow to the back of her mind for the time being.  
"Hey guys, what's up?"  
"Nothing much, Knuckles was about to bring up to the waterhole: says he found a place where the fish are THIS BIG!"  
He put his arms out at least a meter long, and Knuckles hit him on the head angrily.  
"I did NOT say that long you exaggerating Monkey!"  
"Aww, that's no reason to hit me Knuckles!"  
Amy giggled and Tails felt his sweat drop as he scratched his head.  
"Guys calm down!"

While Knuckles and Sonic were bickering Amy turned her attention to Tails.

"So Tails, have you seen Cream lately? She says she really misses you~!"  
She leaned forward, a knowing smile playing on her face as Tails blushed a tomato-red color.  
"Umm... well… I've seen her… cough; cough… is it getting hot outside?"  
"Aww, well that's good. We wouldn't want her feeling lonely now would we?"  
Tails chuckled embarrassedly, and it was then that the two others had finished bickering: now Knuckles was sitting on top of the blue hedgehog who was calling "Mercy Uncle"

"Soo, Amy," He said as he massaged his neck. "Seen your little friend around lately?"  
There was something in his voice that shocked her, and she quirked a brow frowning at his question.  
"Maybe I have."  
Sonic sighed as he heaved himself off the ground.  
"Ames, you know I care about you right? Well, I just don't think you should hang out with that guy anymore."  
"And why not, you've only ever seen the guy once and for 5 minutes!"  
"That is true, but I don't know, there's something about that guy and I don't like it."  
"Just give the guy a break Sonic. You don't even know him!"  
"And you do?"  
"Hmph!"  
"Well do you?"  
"Okay, so maybe I don't very well, but that doesn't matter!"  
"Amy, you are impossible"  
"Humph! Well if you're just finding that out then maybe you don't know ME!"

"…. What? Amy, how can you say that? We've been friends for years!"  
"Oh boy Tails, maybe we better go." Knuckles said as he tried to steer the little fox away.  
"Aww, but I wanna see what happens!"

"Ames, do you really think I don't know you anymore?"  
She wouldn't look at him. She was staring pointedly at a rock.  
"Do you?"  
"Just… not as well as you used to Sonic, but... that not your fault,"  
"What do you mean Amy?"  
She sighed. How could she tell him? How could she share with him her feelings of loneliness and isolation? It wasn't HIS fault that he was growing up, they all had to. If anything it was her fault for being the last to get a grip on the reality her friends had already gotten.  
"It's nothing Sonic. Go and catch up with Tails and Knuckles. I'm sorry"  
She fought back tears and gave him one of her most heart shatteringly happy smiles.  
"Amy? Are you sure you're alright?"  
"Of course I am!"  
'Of course I'm not'  
"Are you sure?"  
"Yup! I'm perfectly fine"  
'No I'm not…'  
"You do know that if you had anything to talk to me about, you could always just tell me right?"  
"I know Sonic, now go and have fun!"  
'No… I can't talk to you…'  
"Okay then… I better get going then"

"Okay, see you later!"  
'Please don't leave me….'  
He waved at her giving her a big smile, before running off into the forest.  
Well… he was gone…  
She could feel the tears welling up behind her eye lids as she brought her knees to her face and laid her head on her arms.  
Why the heck was she crying? It wasn't the first time she had felt lonely… So why was it hitting her hard now?  
"You are strangest person I've ever met, Rose."  
She gave a start and looked up. Shadow was back. And he was standing directly in front of her.  
"I-I am? How?"  
She rubbed at her eyes. Talking would make her feel better.  
He sighed and gave her a look mixed of awe and pity. It was very weird.  
"What happened, just now, Rose,"  
He leaned closer as if examining an interesting specimen.  
"You just defended some complete stranger who you met out of the blue. And you almost started a fight with, what I'm guessing is, your best friend, but then when they ask you what's going on, not only do you make it your fault for the blow up, you try to hide your feelings from them."  
He frowned at her now: as if seeing her for the first time.  
"You are a very strange one indeed."  
She wiped her eyes again and sniffed.  
"Yea… I guess I am pretty weird aren't I…"  
His eyes widened suddenly and then came crashing down again.  
"Do not mistake my meaning Rose. You being so strange… so… different… might just be the only reason your still here."  
Her eyes widened at this. She had no idea what he meant. All she knew was she didn't feel like crying anymore…

"But your friend is right. You really shouldn't be 'hanging around with me'."  
"Bu-but why?"  
'Is he going to leave me too?'  
He sighed. He could tell almost exactly what she was thinking.  
"Do not think of it like that Rose: I am not abandoning you for some sort of higher purpose. I am merely stating that, if you continue to associate with me… Things might not work out well for you."  
She tilted her head confusedly as he knew she would.  
"Why do you say that?"  
"Because, That's the point of my existence: to bring…'Bad stuff' on people."  
He glared down at a fallen leaf.  
"I don't get what you mean… but… I don't think you're a bad person…"  
This made him look up wide eyed.  
"I mean, you can't be all bad… after all… you did save me…"  
He gaped at her and frowned.  
'Yes, but even saving one life can not erase all the ones I've ended…'  
He grunted and then looked up to the sky. It was evening. And he still had work to do.  
He glanced at the rose colored female.  
She had no idea what he was. She had no idea what his task was, to take the souls of the living away from this world, and doom them for eternity to the pits of the underworld.  
He looked at her smile, taking in how it was so warm, and kind, and so… real?  
Yes… that was it: her smile was genuine. It lacked the forced kindness that usually came with the smiles of mortals.  
Whereas most people were kind because they knew they should be, or because they wanted something: hers was different.  
She was kind because she wanted to be: because she wanted to see everyone else happy.  
Maybe that was a reason he had wanted to keep her alive… because if this one big rare difference that set her apart from the rest of the world… Just like that other girl… Maria…

Amy noticed as his eyes went blank, and misted over as he lost himself in thought.  
"Um… Shadow? Are you okay?  
He snapped out of it as her heard her voice and he grunted.  
This was no time to be nostalgic. He was here to observe Amy so he could destroy her. That was it. He had no other business with her.

He looked to the sky again and decided he had over stayed his welcome: he had to get going so as not to miss his other 'job'.  
"Goodbye Rose. I have stuff to do" He said as he turned to leave.  
"Oh, okay. Bye Shadow!"  
She waved merrily as he disappeared, and she wondered briefly just how he DID that.  
She shrugged and jumped off her rock, there was no time to be moping around! She set off to her house eager to find something to preoccupy her time, content that now that Shadow had appeared twice, he would again.

~~~~~

A misty graveyard. 'How fitting' He thought as Shadow scanned the area around him.  
It was night time, the moon shone brightly, and casting shadows on the earth's surface.  
He walked between the grave stones, his red eyes scanning the names of each one he past. He had a vague memory of each person's death, weather it had been easy or hard, what they died from.  
There were some who died of blunt force trauma, some who died from weapon inflicted wounds, some who had run-ins with dangerous animals. You name it.  
Then he saw something in the distance: a small orange dot in the mist: the glow of a lantern.  
Not wasting a second he drew his weapon and he dodged past the grave stones towards the light, and smirked as he came near, exactly who he was looking for.  
She was Elizabeth Lecithin, age 50, Dying of tuberculosis, and a lack of will to live due to the recent death of her husband who had died tuberculosis.  
She was crouched down in front of her husband's grave shivering from the cold and weeping quietly in between coughs.  
'At least she won't have to suffer for much longer' He thought as he brought up his Scythe.  
With a swing of the sharp silver blade she fell to the ground, but floating over her dead body, was her separated soul. It shrieked as it lunged past him and swirled up 5 feet from the ground and then swirled and faded to, he knew the underworld.  
He turned to leave but as he did he heard a voice from behind him.  
"Hey'a Shadow old boy. You've changed. You used to kill more subtly, ha, ha! What happened? You stopped enjoying the misery and suffering?"  
Shadow turned towards the voice which was coming from an all black figure: a shadow with eyes and white sharp looking teeth.  
Shadow grunted.  
"I'll have you know I never DID enjoy the misery and suffering. Unlike you I presume, Demon."  
"Aww, theres no need to say things like that Shadow old buddy. I may be a demon but I have feelings too"  
He grinned evilly.  
"How about you get out of my face before I trap you in a tree trunk or something"  
"Hmm, touchy, anyway I am here to relay you a message. You are to come back home immediately and await further instructions from your father. That is all."  
"Hmph. What does HE want?"  
"I dun know, all I know is you better high tail it back: maybe he misses you."  
He cackled to himself before floating away back to the shadowy darkness of the woods around them.  
Shadow sighed.  
He would have to go back now. He glanced around at the graveyard and then with a flash cut at the air around him with his scythe, which gave way to swirling black hole, and jumped in, disappearing.

~~~~

"And I don't know, she sort of just went all happy again after that"  
Sonic was sitting on one of the window seats over looking the main road of the town. He was talking to Knuckles who was sitting at a wooden table cracking pecans with his fists and eating them. Tails was sprawled out on his sleeping bag, too far gone to even think about the conversation.  
"Hmm, well, it sounds like she's a bit lonely. After all, we really don't see each other as often as we use to."  
"But why would she blow up at me! It's not my fault that we're all busy people!"  
"You idiot, didn't you hear her say that she knew it wasn't your fault?"  
"… oh… yea… she did."  
Knuckles rolled his eyes at him.  
"She knows very well that it's not your fault: that's probably why she didn't want to talk about it. You know Amy. She hates feeling like she's a burden on people. And she hates being angry at them too."  
"So what the heck am I suppose to do? I just can't quit work to goof around all day, as much fun as that sounds."  
"I know, and that isn't what she wants at all. She doesn't mind you working: she just wants to make sure she isn't forgotten: that you're gonna be her friend 'forever and always' and all the gooey stuff."  
He said disgustedly as one of the pecans, which he discovered too late, was actually a berry, smooshed in his hand.  
"That still doesn't explain her new little friend." Sonic mumbled unhappily.  
"Actually, it does: she was lonely and she wanted a friend who had enough time and wouldn't forget her: so that's exactly what she found. I'm guessing this guy doesn't work during the day, or his job is very undemanding."  
"Grrr! Just because we got a little busy doesn't mean she has to replace us with some… jerk she just up and met one day!"  
Knuckles glanced at his friend who was clenching his teeth.  
He chuckled to himself: Sonic was jealous.  
"Didn't you just say she just met him? I don't think she would ever replace us with some guy she barely knows Sonic."  
"Hmph. How do you know?"  
"Because, I know Amy: I have for years. And you know, she used to confide in me some pretty heavy stuff back in the day."  
"Oh? Like what?"  
"Were you aware that at one point she had a crush on you?"  
"WHAT~, Amy? Have a crush on me? When the heck did THAT happen?"  
"Heh, heh, when you were too busy chasing around that Sally Acorn. At first she hadn't wanted to admit it, and she tried to be happy for you, but after a while she admitted that she was jealous. Oh, the worst time she had, was when you got all excited because you were going to the harvest festival with Sally and started to ask her for advice."  
"Oh yea… I had wondered why you decided to bring her instead of Rouge…"  
"Yup. Actually I was somewhat surprised, but Rouge was pretty understanding; she even helped to give her a make over"  
"Hmm… now I feel bad…"  
"Nah, don't feel bad: she's been over it for a while now. I guess she figured you were never going to see her like that, so she moved on."  
"When you say she 'moved on' you don't mean she found another guy do you?"  
"Yeah: she started going out with Flash for a while."  
"I knew I hated that guy! So what happened there?"  
Knuckles laughed and he continued his story.  
"She dumped him when he went a bit too far. Apparently your name had come up, and he said some things, next thing he knew he was outside her porch, the door slammed in his face single again."  
"Aww I feel so loved."  
"Peh. Well, after Flash she stopped looking for love. I guess she just didn't find anyone else that suited her or something."  
"Hmm… well that's good. We don't want her falling for some creep." 'Like one other jerk she's met'  
Knuckles glanced at the blue hedgehog and sighed again.  
"Sonic, don't you dare try anything funny okay? Amy was right: we don't know this mysterious hedgehog, so we can't just assume that he's a bad guy, and if Amy decides she likes him, that's her business. Now, if he actually does turn out to be a creep, then we'll be there for her, but I don't want you to go and try and mess anything up for the girl; she deserves to be just as happy as anyone else."  
"Yeah, yeah, Knuckle-head. I get you. Well, time for me to hit the hay! Night Knuckles!"  
With that the blue hedgehog ran into his room leaving Knuckles sitting alone at his kitchen table.

~~~~

The underworld, despite the common belief of the people in the world of the living, was actually not as bad as expected.

The underworld was divided into parts: Each was a sphere connected to the others by three long thin winding roads, which rose floating above the main one.

The part we know as heaven was a beautiful paradise whose road was made of golden stairs that lead high to the glowing sphere it consisted of: it would remind people of the most beautiful places on earth, only without all the problems that were faced: the animals of the jungles for instance were not deadly: on the contrary they lived peacefully with the souls of the good people. The artic areas for example gave the sensation of being cold without being uncomfortable. There was not too much or too little of anything, and the place was perfection, including the towns the people lived in.

The part we would recognize as purgatory was in the middle. Its road was a simple silver road that neither floated nor sunk, but went perfectly straight to a gray plain sphere.  
Inside this sphere everything was quite plain: the sun shone; but it was not brilliant, the grass was green; but it didn't look fresh and inviting. There were forests, but they weren't wonderful. And the animals neither attacked you, nor acknowledge you. If you went to purgatory you wouldn't be happy, or sad: you would just be there: not living nor surviving.

Now, the part that all people know as hell was a place you would not want to go to.  
Hell was connected to a red blazing road of fire that sloped like a slide into a great pit. From the entrance to the underworld it cast a reddish-orange glow, and if you were close enough you could see the great lake of fire that surrounded the black sphere where it floated on the fires surface. Inside of hell was a place of nightmares: fire everywhere that burned you forever: never going out, never ending. Worms ate your soul, but they never ran out of food to stop. Demons resided there both torturing and being tortured. It would be impossible to explain EXACTLY how it felt to be in Hell. But I'm sure that you get the image.

And there was one other area in the underworld the gateway of Death.  
No matter what way you entered the gates, your path was decided as soon as you entered. When you would die you would simply land on the path that was your fate.  
If you landed on the gold path, you were going to heaven: but there was only one way to get on this path.  
If you landed on the simple dirt path, you were headed to purgatory, only, not a soul had been sent to purgatory for many, many thousands of years. These days you would either go to heaven or hell.  
If you were unfortunate to land on the red path; sorry kid, but you were on your way to hell.  
There was no way to get off or to change your path: that was for when you were living.

There was only one other area in the underworld: on the very opposite side of the main places of death, on the other side of the gate floating directly above and behind you if you entered was a castle; A floating black castle; the castle of Death itself.  
The castle was just like any other castle you could imagine: only it was black, and quite gloomy. It had a large court yard, with 10 ft tall hedges that surrounded the whole castle: causing a sort of barrier from the outside. It even had its own sky: but the sky would only change with the mood of its owner, so you could probably see why at the moment it was dark and cloudy and gloomy.

Shadow was staring blankly across his dark domain from one of the huge windows of his study that doubled as a library. The walls were made of thousands of shelves of books. Rolling ladders circled around the room non stop, leading from one balcony of shelves to another. There was a roaring fire in front of a square of couches and chairs. This was the room he used the most, so it was he most comfortable, besides his own bedroom which connected by a single door to the right.

A small black cat (of the normal type) rubbed against his leg and pounced on the window seat in front of its master, and he reached out and stroked its head deep in thought.  
He had abandoned his cloak: he didn't need it inside.

He was roused out of his ponderings when another demon, a shadow with eyes and teeth, popped up in the middle of the room.  
"Shadow, your father will see you now," came its crisp female voice.  
Shadow grunted in acknowledgement and looked across the vast underworld, past the gates, and past the three roads, towards the glowing red pit. Towards Hell.

~~~  
He exited the front doors of his castle, his cloak and Scythe back with him, and he walked across the court yard towards the main road where he himself sent the many souls of the departed, on their way to their final destination.

He knew that his 'father' had kept him waiting on purpose. 'The stupid control freak'  
As he walked he watched the souls marching above him on their separate roads. He wouldn't enter hell the way they did: after all he wasn't dead. His road made a detour around the great pit of hell; it rose above the flames at the bottom of the pit and it stopped rising directly above the black sphere that was hell it's self. Now he would wait.  
He leaned on his Scythe nonchalantly as the 'show' began;  
From the pit came the very shadow of the sphere of hell. As it rose it began to take shape:  
It was a gigantic figure: Two red horns jutted out on each side of its head, it had three eyes, and a huge hole for a mouth, and what was left of it was concealed by a cloak, with strange ornaments dangling from around its neck. It was the Devil himself: the devil Black Doom.

"Ahh Shadow, how pleasant, you decided to show up."  
"Can we hurry this along? I have work to do."  
"Patience Shadow. It has come to my attention that you seem to need a new incentive to do your job correctly. You are getting sloppy and you know how I feel about sloppiness Shadow."  
"Peh! You're just trying to make life as miserable for me as possible. I'm not fooled Doom."  
"Well, yes. But that is unimportant. If you continue in your ways, I will be … forced to punish you. I believe you are aware of what happens to servants who displease me…"  
With this he pointed down into the great fiery depths of hell, where his own minions: his shadowy demons were shrieking in pain and agony.  
"Hmph." He grunted unimpressed, but secretly he was thinking just how much he would prefer his current role. "Whatever"  
He turned away from the devil and started his way back down to his own domain.  
"Remember Shadow, I'll be watching"  
'I know you are you evil three eyed bastard…'

He was glad for a fleeting moment that his 'father' hadn't found out about Amy. But he supposed that that would be because hell would be the last place she would be sent to.  
He glanced over head at the glowing golden sphere of heaven.  
He used to wonder what it would be like to go there… but that wasn't a possibility. Heaven was only for the good mortals of the real world. And he had never been a mortal, so it wasn't as thought he even ever had a chance. Not even death could enter heaven.

~~~~~


	5. Chapter 4

**A Lovely Death 4**

by ~Animegirl300

Shadow stared down from his perch scanning the area around him from where he stood on a branch of one of the tallest trees in the forest.

From here he could see almost everything going on in the small town; his view stretching all the way towards the fields.  
He was silently observing the town's folk as they interacted with each other, blissfully unaware of his presence.

At the moment he wasn't a complete threat to them: his schedule was free at that time, so he wasn't here for them… yet…

He jumped from the incredible height and landed on his feet, moving to glide towards the town. He skidded to a halt right in front of the crowded streets and slowed down.  
His momentarily calm demeanor now changed and his was suddenly angry.  
With a sadistic smile he walked forward between the people and became amused at their reaction.  
Even if they couldn't see him the people could still sense him.

'Yes', the thought bitterly as the people around him shuddered as though suddenly cold and began to walk quickly as thought suddenly busy. 'Run away and fear me'

He spotted a middle aged man as he sat on the foundation in the middle of the town reading calmly. Shadow could sense that he was in a good mood, and he walked up behind him smirking evilly as the man shivered violently and looked around, standing up ready to run; even thought he was unable to see the hedgehog standing beside him.  
Shadow was amused.

He continued walking down the street when he had the sensation of being followed.  
He stopped and glared over his shoulder at the blue hedgehog, who was looking at him in an uncharacteristically pitying way.

"So, is this how you have fun? Terrorizing random innocent strangers?"  
He said it quietly so the people around wouldn't think he was talking to himself.  
Shadow sneered at him.  
"Why look who it is? Sonic the hedgehog, and to what do I owe the honor?"  
Sonic frowned at his sarcastic comment.  
Even he was affected by Shadow's aura; it was pure instinct that told him to stay as far away from this hedgehog as possible.

"Hmph. What are you doing here?"  
"None of your business, boy; and to answer your question, there is no such thing as a purely innocent person Sonic. All you mortals are the same; greedy, filthy little creatures."  
"Okay, I still don't get the whole calling normal people "mortals" thing, but that sounded like an insult."  
"Oh look: he figured that out! Good boy: you must be proud of yourself."  
Sonic snarled angrily at him.  
"I'm not here to mix words with you Shadow; so let me get to the point: stay away from here! And Stay away from Amy! That's your last warning!"

Shadow gave him a very ugly look, that would have made any other person want to crawl under a rock and hide for the rest of their life. But Sonic was too prideful to acknowledge the strike of fear that came over him, and he held his ground.

"Okay hedgehog, let me set something straight for you. One: I will go wherever the hell I want to, and I'll see anyone that I want to likewise. And two you had better figure out who you're trying to fight with little boy; because I can more than just handle you."

Shadow sneered and he made a movement forward, feigning an attack,  
And quite involuntarily Sonic flinched.

Shadow laughed as he turned away, and to his side a flame appeared burning itself into a piece of paper suspended in air.  
With a grunt Shadow seized it and read it carefully before smirking.

"Hmm it seems I have a job to do. Goodbye Sonic; I'll be sure to see you later."  
With that he glided forward skating so quickly away it was as if he disappeared.

Sonic dropped his fists to his sides his heart pounding.  
He wasn't afraid of Shadow himself: but there was something about him that made him feel very close to it.

He looked on the way that Shadow had taken off to, and shook his head, turning to run off. He subconsciously turned down an alley towards the path that would take him to Amy's house.  
That guy was bad news, and Sonic would make sure he wouldn't let Amy get rapped up in it.

~~~~~

"Mhmm, I do enjoy a nice long bath during the evening, don't You Knuckles~" Rouge called from her marble bathroom, to outside the door where her boyfriend sat quietly looking to the direction opposite of her.

"Umm… I guess?"  
"Oh~ but you know what would be the best?"  
"Umm; What?"  
Rouge giggled.

"If we took one together~"  
Knuckles looked away blushingly as the image popped up in his head, and he coughed.  
"If you say so"  
"Aww, you know you want to~"  
"If you say so Rouge"  
"Hee, hee, you're no fun~"  
Secretly Rouge was pleased.

That was one of the things that set Knuckles apart from most guys; any other guy she knew would have jumped at the chance to bang her where she stood: and plenty of them had told her that themselves.

But Knuckles was different: he actually stuck around for her instead of her body; and as a matter of fact, he was the one who denied most of her advances.  
She leaned her chin on the side of the porcelain tub and smirked over at her red beau.

"Soo~ tell me about your friends~ what's been happening?"  
Knuckles grunted.  
"Nothing much really… Amy's got a new friend"  
"Oh? Who is it? Some guy, I've never met him but Sonic said his name is Shadow, and I'm getting the feelings Sonic's a bit jealous."

"Aww, so he's finally figured his feelings for her?"  
"Umm, not exactly… I don't think he knows exactly what his feelings are; he just doesn't want her around this Shadow guy…"  
"Oooh~ sounds dramatic~. So, what's Amy's take on all this?"

"Well, I'm really not sure: I haven't been able to talk to her much. But it sounds like she just wanted a friend around… I know she's been over Sonic for years, but who knows: maybe she does still like him. But that's probably not a good thing if this new guy likes her also…"

"I wanna meet this person~"  
"Heh! So do I actually… I wonder if I ever will though: because I've never seen any strangers in town, so I wonder where Amy met this guy in the first place…"  
"I guess that's just a mystery that we'll have to figure out some day."

Suddenly Knuckles gave a start as she appeared, crouching to his level, right in front of him; he hadn't heard her get out of the water!

He started down at her alerted to her nakedness, and his face flushed.  
She smirked and leaned forward, placing her hands on his shoulders, and caught his mouth with her own, and her eyelids drooped.

She pressed herself against him, putting her arms around his neck, as they sat on the floor leaning with his back against the wall.

Their faces were flushed as their kiss broke and they looked at each other.  
Knuckles smirked as he leaned forward pressing her back against the carpeted floor.  
He kissed her as his hands ran up and down her sides, and as her legs went around his waist he groaned in such agonizing pleasure as he pressed himself against her.

And then they were joined up.  
They laid there writhing on the floor, their movements erratic, lost in their own utopia.

They stared at each other, panting as they lay there together.  
"You're too seductive for your own good..."

Rouge gave a small laugh.  
"And yet you like it~"  
He grinned in reply and reached up to caress she arm.  
"Yes, Yes I Do."  
She gave a soft sort of giggle and nudged the crook between his neck and shoulder with her head.  
'I love you'  
Those words she wanted to say, but couldn't due to her pride among other things.  
But, he got the message, and understood the unspoken.  
He pulled her closer to him, and kissed her forehead, leaning his cheek against it, and holding her as they dozed off embracing each other lovingly.

~~~~~

"Hey Cream~ Order up!" called Amy from the kitchen area of Ms. Vanilla's bakery.  
Cream bounced on it followed closely by her chao Cheese, looking adorable in the bakery's dress uniform, adorned with ribbons and lace.  
"Thank you Amy! Here's the next order!"  
Cream said sweetly and she took the three layered strawberry shortcake, and handed her a slip of paper with the next order.

Amy loved having a job.  
For one thing she loved the work itself, and another she liked the fact she was alone anymore.

Cream's mother had agreed to give her the job enthusiastically: they were old family friends, and Vanilla knew Amy was a hard worker as well as a good cook, and now after a week of her services, Vanilla's bakery had never seen such a substantial growth in business. And she could understand why.  
Amy was kind, polite, and friendly, and people enjoyed her company.  
Her customers appreciated her hospitality and how she made a point to be social; making the relationship less customer and employee, and more a guest and hostess.

Plus, the food was really high quality:  
Amy wasn't the type of person to cut corners.  
Everything she made was different from each other: it was more personal.  
She could make the same type of cake over and over again, but there would be something that stood out, weather it be the way she designed it, or the flavor itself.  
It was a rare gift that made her such an awesome chef.

As Amy came out of the kitchen to deliver a rainbow cake with pink icing and rainbow star sprinkles, to a little girl whose family was celebrating her birthday, she looked up as two familiar figures walked in.  
"Hey Sonic, Hi Tails~"  
She called as she went back behind the counter, and lightly put sprinkles on a batch of cookies that came fresh out the oven.

"Hey Ames, busy day, it looks like." Sonic said as he sat at one of the counter stools.  
"Nah, it's always like this actually. One sec"  
"Hey Cream," she called to the back "Do we have anymore of the rainbow sprinkles?"  
"Coming,"  
Came her soft voice as she skipped to the front, with another cake by one of the other bakers in the back.  
"Thanks!"  
"Hii Mr. Sonic, Hi Tails"

Tails and Sonic waved and Sonic turned back to Amy.  
"You know, this bakery wasn't always this popular till you came in"  
"Heh, heh, Thanks Sonic, but flattery will not get you a cookie"  
Sonic pretended to be disappointed, but he couldn't help but grin.

They chatted as Amy worked, decorating the different pastries as Cream brought them out.

Amy was pleased with the amount of time she got to see Sonic these days. Now that she was stationed into town, where Sonic and Tails were sent regularly to pick up supplies for his Uncle Chuck her social life was picking up again!

Even Knuckles came by a couple of times, since another job of his was as a delivery boy, and he would come by to drop off the various ingredients.  
There was only one person she didn't really get to see as often as she would like.  
Shadow…

So far she had only been able to see him a few times since they met.  
She always wondered where he went during his mysterious disappearances. And she couldn't ask anybody since according to him, other people couldn't see him. She wondered exactly what he meant by that.  
With a jolt she turned her attention back to the conversation, realizing she got side tracked.

On the walk home after work she felt at peace; the biggest problem she'd had was already solving itself.

Shadow moved quietly from the shadows of an alleyway as he saw the girl he least expected to see.  
He walked after her quietly.

He was puzzled.  
He reminded himself of what happened this morning he realized something quite…surprising?

Whenever he got close to people they had a tendency to become wary simply from his aura. When he was around the very air changed, and the instinctive fear and anxiety would come over them.  
But  
He was only a few feet behind her and yet there was no such change.  
He frowned and walked up a little keeping his footsteps quiet.  
He was so close, but she still hadn't noticed.  
She was actually humming to herself happily.  
How strange.  
He smirked. Idea~.  
"Hello young lady~"  
"WOAH!"  
He laughed as she did a sort of weird turning lunge forward, and put a hand over her heart.  
"Oh my gosh! What the heck Shadow!"  
She glared at him annoyed and he attempted to stop laughing, and smirked at her.  
"I'm sorry Amy; it was too good an opportunity."  
Amy sighed.  
"What is with guys and trying to sneak up on me?"  
She already got enough of that with Sonic and Knuckles.  
Shadow raised an eye brow, amused as she turned sharply with her nose in the air and walked off pointedly.  
He followed her quietly and she glanced back at him and waited for him to catch, after which she walked with him.  
"I do hope you know I will have to exact my revenge on you for that" She said mischievously.  
He looked at her his eyebrow again and snorted.  
"And how do you think you'll do that?"  
"Easy: I'll just surprise you one day"  
He gave a short laugh.  
"I would love to see you try and surprise me"  
She grinned.  
"You don't think I can do it?"  
"I KNOW you cant. Nothing surprises me"  
He ignored the voice in his who said 'besides you'  
Amy smirked.  
"Oh we'll see Shadow~"

They walked for a while before Shadow began to take in a scent.  
He frowned confusedly.  
It was a sweet scent… it smelled good… inviting.  
But where was it coming from?  
He sniffed around the air, but there was nothing in sight that could be making that smell… Then he turned his head towards Amy's direction and realized it was coming from her.  
"… What's that smell?"  
"Huh?"  
Amy glanced up at him confused.  
"You have a strange scent about you… but I can't identify it…Oh, it's nothing bad; it's actually a good smell…"  
Amy sniffed, and it dawned on her.  
"Ohhhhhh! Ha, ha! It's cookie dough!"  
He turned to her.  
"It's what?"  
"The smell: It's cookie dough… or cake… or maybe pie… Sorry; I work at a bakery!"  
He recognized the words dough and bakery: but all the others were foreign words.  
"Erm… I have no idea what you're talking about."  
Amy stopped dead in her tracts looking horrified!  
"Wait, you don't know what cookies are? Or pie?"  
Shadow felt annoyed at having shared his ignorance with her.  
"No." He said pointedly.  
"Please at LEAST tell me you know what cake is!" She pleaded.  
He gave her a strange look.  
"No I don't. What is it?"  
Amy gaped at him looking like the world was ending.  
"Oh my, gosh… how is that even possible?"  
Shadow looked annoyed now. He tapped his foot impatiently. Was she making fun of him?  
Then it dawned on her…  
"Hey Shadow? You don't eat do you?"  
He looked surprised at the question and shook his head.

He didn't really need to eat anything… he could if he wanted to; but seeing as he was able to generate his own energy, there was really no point in cooking.

"Ohhh. No wonder! Phew: I thought for a minute the world had gone crazy! Well, If you don't eat then that's really not your fault for not knowing…"  
She scratched her cheek as she tried to find the words to describe them as he continued to stare.  
"Weeellllll~ Cookies are small flat little pieces of sweet bread, and you can make it any flavor based on the ingredients really and usually they're circles, but they can be any shape you want.  
Ummm, a Pie is like… bread filled with stuff. Like there's dough at the bottom, the filling in the middle and dough at the top, but when you bake it you put it in a pan to give it a sort of shape. And usually it's filled with fruit and stuff…  
And lastly Cake is the best of them all~! It's pretty much sweet bread, but you can decorate it any way you like, it can be any flavor, it's endless possibilities with cake."

The whole time during her rant Shadow was giving her a look that pretty much said, one he was confused, and two she really must be crazy.  
Amy caught his gaze and she sigh.  
"Bleh! I'm bad at explanations! But if you stick with me for a while you'll eventually figure it out."

Shadow grunted as Amy's house came closer into view.  
It was time for him to leave.  
He stopped at the fence marking her front lawn.

"Goodbye Rose, I must be on my way."  
"Okay Shadow~, see you later~!"  
She waved and bounded to her front door, and for a moment after her pink hair disappeared behind it, he stared on before he simply faded into the shadows, disappearing.


	6. Chapter 5

**A Lovely Death 5**

by ~Animegirl300

Shadow stood quietly his arms crossed over his chest as he silently enjoyed the calm breeze that constantly blew through the little clearing.  
Behind closed eyes Shadow was imagining his surroundings as he listened for what he was searching for.

He and Amy had been walking through the forest from their usual place of meeting, but they had stopped shortly to admire the scenery, and as soon as Shadow turned around Amy had hidden herself.

His ear twitched in the direction of one of the huge oak tree's that he knew Amy was behind, but for the life of him he could not figure out what she was doing.

'As long as she was safe though' He thought idly.

But what was Amy doing? He tried to focus his hearing on the area once more but to his surprise she wasn't there anymore and just as he'd opened to his to search for her, His heart skipped a beat as he felt something grab him from behind , pushing him forward with a surprising amount of force.  
With a crash he and whatever it was fell to the floor, and Shadow heard the unmistakable tones of Amy's girlish voice.  
"Hee, hee, hee! I got you Shadow~"

Shadow looked up at the pink hedgehog as she giggled and felt his face flush both at being surprised by a mere mortal, and that fact it was Amy, AND because of how close she was; her torso was now laying on his back as she laughed.  
She sat up and he hopped to his feet looking shocked and flustered.

"What was that for?" He shouted pointing to himself, annoyed at himself for blushing like an idiot.

Amy grinned innocently up at him as she stood with her arms behind her back.  
"Well, I SAID that I'd surprise you didn't I?" And it worked. Her eyes lowered fractionally and she gave a mischievous sneer as he stared at her.

His eyes were widened and his mouth went in a straight line, his face still red from the surprise attack.

Partially annoyed he turned on his head with his nose to the air and stalked off, with Amy following behind him giggling.  
"Admit it! You were surprised~"  
"Hmph!"  
"Oh come on~! Don't be such a sore loser~ I won that fair and square!"  
"Tck!"

Amy frowned and crossed her arms disappointedly at Shadow's incorporation.  
Finally he stopped walking and he looked around at where to go next.  
It was when Amy glanced over at him that the idea popped in her head.  
She turned a little towards her dark companion and lightly poked the tuff of white fur on his chest playfully.

As he felt the unexpected contact he looked at her again and as he felt his face flush, he calmly asked in a voice that suggested forced patience "What are you doing?"  
Amy giggled and poked at the chest fur again.  
"Tee hee! It's so pokable!"

Shadow stared at her sternly and his mouth made a very small arch on his muzzle, giving him the look of a bull dog.

As Amy reached for another poke, he gently blocked it with his palm, and Amy grinning attempted to poke him with the other, only for Shadow to let go of that hand and block the other.

She continued to try though, and Shadow continued to block her poke attacks, until he had enough.

That last time he grabbed her wrist as she attempted for another poke, and then caught the other in his steel grip.  
"Hey! Let go! That's cheating"  
"Enough Rose"

Amy gave a small pout and Shadow realized how close she was again, and his face felt hot as he realized how it would look to an outsider; he holding onto her wrists in such close proximity.  
He dropped her arms and let out a cough, looking away.

This girl was starting to get to him.

He walked onward with her following closely behind, and up ahead he could see a rather large pond.  
Excitedly Amy ran ahead and laughed as she felt the breeze as she stopped at the pond's edge enjoying the miniature beach.

Shadow watched as she looked down to her feet and gave a small squeal of delight as she saw the 'adorable' little shelled crabs scatter away from her.  
Shadow couldn't help but smirk; the view of her being like this was adorable itself.  
He sat down and watched for a long time as she amused herself; chasing around the seagulls, and throwing around the miniscule coconuts.

He enjoyed seeing her like this:

When she didn't have the barriers up that she seemed to have with her other friends.  
He found the sight breathtaking as the wind blew through her hair, sending the pink strands in different directions gracefully, and he almost lived for the sparkle in her eyes of pure innocent happiness.

His feelings turned grim thought as he looked over head back towards the village.  
No mortal could ever see things that he saw, and they should be very glad of the fact, because over head he could already see a sort of dark mist in the far distance towards the purple mountains; almost like a storm cloud. Only when he looked closer he could make out the swirling bodies of demons as they moved circling each other, snapping at the air around them in one big mass of evil. But they were moving to the town ahead extremely slowly.  
This was a sign that very, very soon the town would experience a tragedy.  
If they had been closure he would be able to tell what type of demons they were and figure thus find out what type of tragedy, but as it was he couldn't see it yet.

He looked over at the pink creature and his eyes glinted in fierce determination.

He'd found a new purpose; keeping this girl alive at all costs…  
She was blissfully unaware at the danger that was on its way and he wondered if he should be glad.

"Hey Shadow?"  
Shadow looked up at the pink hedgehog as she walked up to him happily.  
"Hmm?"  
She sat down next to the black hedgehog and curled her knees to her chin.  
"What are you?"  
Shadow's heart froze as he heard what she'd said.  
Oh no…  
"W-what?'  
"I asked what you are."  
She looked up thoughtfully at him unaware of his inner reaction.  
"I mean on the day we met, you kept calling me mortal and stuff, and you don't eat, and when you were fighting that huge pig! You're not… Mobian... are you?"  
Shadow almost gave a momentary sigh of relief: if that's what her reasoning was, then that was okay.  
But how did he answer?  
He couldn't just come out and tell her that he was the grim reaper.  
"…What do you think I am?"  
Amy put her finger to her chin as she thought.  
"A vampire?"  
"What? No!"  
"Oh you're not?"  
Shadow shook his head affronted. And Amy gave a sigh of relief.  
"Oh Good: that Idea seemed way too unoriginal for you."  
Shadow gave an amused snort, and Amy kept wondering.  
"Are you a wizard?"  
"Nope; although you mortals could think of some of things I do as magical"  
"Hmmmm…. I don't think you're a zombie: you smell too nice and have better teeth."  
She giggled, to hide her nervousness as she realized what she'd said about him smelling nice.  
"Hmm the only other monsters I could think of are Bigfoot and the Loch-ness monster, but I really doubt you're any one of them"  
Shadow smirked.  
"I actually do know the Loch-ness monster" He said, although he left out that part of him being something like his older brother.  
"Really? What's she like?"  
"Actually it's a he, and eh: he's on the destructive side, but for the most part he stays pretty quiet."

Amy laughed at this one, and Shadow felt oddly at peace.

"So, what are you if you aren't one of the above?"  
Shadow sighed.  
"I think I shall let you figure that out for yourself Rose"  
"Aww fine! I'll figure it out eventually though!"  
Shadow smirked, but inside he wasn't exactly laughing.  
Hopefully she never would…

"Um Shadow? Just one other question?"  
He looked at her and nodded.  
"You said that mortals aren't supposed to be able to see you right? So how come me and Sonic can?"  
Shadow's eye twitched as he heard the name Sonic, and the image of that blue idiot came to mind.  
"Hmmm I'm really not sure, although I have theories."  
"What are your theories then?"

He glanced at her and continued.

"Well; my first one would have been they have to be a pure soul in order to see me… but I discarded that when I found out that blue idiot could also"  
He bristled a little as he said that last part and Amy looked a bit solemn.

"Why can't you two just get along?" She asked sadly, and Shadow felt a wave of guilt.  
"Hmph. He's the one who started it"  
Amy sighed at that but put the conversation back on point.  
"So what is your other theory?"  
"I think it simply depends on the soul of the person I guess… or maybe if they've ever experienced or come too close to be before."  
"What do you mean by experience or some to close to you?"

Shadow winced as he realized he almost gave himself away.  
"Um… never mind Amy."

~~~~

The next morning on Sunday Amy was busy doing her chores.  
The chickens were still acting strangely when she got around to it, and then the old cow Betsy was acting unusual too.

She was working when she heard a familiar deep voice call out to her from behind.  
She looked up and behind her and smiled as she saw Shadow leaning against the face behind her, frowning.  
"Hi Shadow, I'm milking old Betsy here"  
"Err, why are you doing that?"  
"For milk of course"  
"You mortals are so strange…"

Amy shrugged.  
"We do what we got to do"  
"Do you want to learn how?"

Shadow made a face.  
"No. I really do not. Plus I don't think your cow likes me very much."  
He glared over at the animal as it mooed and shuffled uncomfortably.  
Amy looked up at the cow and tried to comfort her.  
"What's wrong with you girl?"  
She looked back over her shoulder with a concerned expression.  
"Actually now that I think about it… most of the animals around here have been acting funny..."  
Then in the next second Amy was smiling again.  
"Ah well" She shrugged.

Shadow though was still wondering about this new piece of information.  
Was he starting to rub off on her?

Amy grabbed the bucket and gestured for him to follow her, and headed to the back of the house to drop the milk off inside and washed her hands at the water pipe in her back yard.  
She led him over to a small stone bench that sat under the tree in her backyard and sat down.  
"So, how are things?"  
"Good I guess?" He answered questioningly.  
How else could things be when your father was the devil and you were his delivery boy and a murderer?

"Oh yea! Wait right here!"  
Shadow raised an eyebrow as he watched his pink friend run to the house excitedly.  
'What is she doing…?'

He sat there for a while admiring the hills that expanded across to the horizon.  
Well, he definitely loved the view.  
He turned as Amy came back holding a small plate with a dark brown triangle on it.  
She handed it to Shadow, who stared at it confusedly.

"Here! You said that you've never tried caked before, so I made you one. I hope you like it"  
"Shadow looked down at it unconvinced.  
"This is cake?"  
'It looks like a triangle of manure.'  
Amy nodded happily and crossed her arms behind her back.  
"Its chocolate flavored: I wasn't sure what flavor you would have preferred. Anyway, try it"

She smiled encouragingly and Shadow gulped before putting his fork to one corner of it, scooping a small amount up and putting it in his mouth.  
His eyes widened as the pastry touched his tongue.

This … was… Heavenly!

He swallowed and ate another bite, shocked at the strange but nice feeling of having food in his stomach, and he wondered how in the world he'd lived for so long with out it.

Amy giggled as she watched happily.

The sight was almost adorable;  
Shadow's face held the same expression of pleased shock and Amy felt that familiar little fuzzy feeling she's always gotten with Shadow.

If Shadow was crazy, and he wasn't as prideful, he would have kissed Amy right then and there.  
But as it was he was too busy stuffing his mouth with cake to do it anyway.

"We definitely need cake where I come from…"  
Amy giggled.  
"I'm really glad that you like it!"  
"Yes; it was great. Thank you Rose" He said softly.

Amy grinned;  
"Now you just have to try the pie and cookies"  
"Bring it on!"


End file.
